Center Wheeling Parking Garage Demolition Out to Bid
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WHEELING -- The landscape of Center Wheeling will soon be changing in a significant way as wheels are in motion for the city to tear down the Center Wheeling Parking Garage around the same time demolition of the remaining buildings on the former Ohio Valley Medical Center gets underway.
Several contractors are reportedly working on proposals to dismantle the parking structure, which has remained closed to the public since April 2022 because of structural concerns.
"The Center Wheeling parking structure demolition is currently out to bid," Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron reported to members of city council during their most recent meeting this month. "The bid opening on that project is scheduled for Oct. 6."
Although plans for the future of the garage site will need to be approved, preliminary concepts call for one lower ramp of the existing parking structure and portion of the "basement" level of the facility to remain intact. The existing south side ramp was built with ground beneath it, going uphill one level from the Market Street side to the Chapline Street side, which at street level sits the equivalent of about one deck higher than Market Street.
Herron said that stretch of existing ramp includes about 80 parking spaces and can be utilized for public parking after the rest of the structure is dismantled. Once this is complete, some additional development would be able to take place at the site -- including the completion of the new Wheeling Police Department Headquarters sally port, installation of a much smaller two-level parking structure adjacent to the second floor of the police headquarters and even the possible creation of green space, a plaza and a new retail space on the lower side facing Market Street -- where the current Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters is located.
On Wednesday, Herron said plans for the future of the site are strictly conceptual at this point. However, the specifications for the demolition will allow for flexibility to accommodate different ideas for future development at the site, and razing the structure will not be done with a wrecking ball or with explosives -- it will be done piece-by-piece.
"It's a dismantle," he explained. "The way the building is set up, it has to be cut up and taken apart."
WVU Health Systems is in charge of the massive project on the former hospital campus next door and has awarded the bid for the demolition of the OVMC buildings to F.R Beinke Wrecking Inc. of New Jersey.
The contract for just under $7 million is being funded through a $2 million contribution from the city, another $2 million from Ohio County and the remaining amount of nearly $3 million covered by WVU Health Systems.
The demolition of the Center Wheeling Parking Garage will be handled by the city and will be funded through funds from its Tax Increment Financing Bond passed by city council last November.
One building remaining from the former OVMC campus was converted into the new Wheeling Police Headquarters, which officially opened earlier this year.
"It was originally designed to use the parking structure," Herron said of the new police facility, which actually has doors on the south side of the building opening on levels of the adjacent parking garage.
The decision to raze the parking structure forced some adjustments to occur on the $6.5 million renovation to convert the former hospital facility into a state-of-the-art police station.
Installation of a sally port was part of the original plans, but because of the structural issues and eventual decision to demolish the parking garage, the construction of the sally port was deducted from the renovations. However, the materials have already been purchased for the sally port.
"The materials are still in the center wheeling parking structure right now," Herron noted, explaining that installation of the sally port has been put on hold until the garage demolition takes place and plans for the remaining site are approved. "There are door frames and everything else in storage, ready to be used for it."
Originally, officials had intended to use the garage for public use and for some employee parking for the police headquarters. Currently, some personnel working at the police station utilize vacant lots across the street at the OVMC campus, but Herron said arrangements will need to be made to accommodate this once demolition begins next door.
"We do need additional public parking there," Herron said.
Dismantling of the parking structure cannot begin until the Wheeling Fire Department moves out of the lower level of the parking structure and into its new $9 million facility currently being constructed in East Wheeling. That new facility is expected to be completed at the end of the year.
The current fire headquarters still operates out of the parking structure, which has been stabilized with temporary shoring throughout upper levels where concerns led to its closure to public parking.
Assuming a number of competitive bids are received, legislation to award the demolition contract to the lowest and best bidder will likely be presented to city council in October or early November, according to Herron, who said there will be a 45-day mobilization period after the contract is signed.
"The site should be available to a contractor by the end of the year, which does coincide with the fire department headquarters relocating from the Center Wheeling Garage to their new location in East Wheeling," he said.
The city's demolition of the parking garage may likely take place at the same time as buildings are coming down across the street. Herron indicated that asbestos abatement and initial phases of demolition at the OVMC will likely start by the end of October and continue well into next year.
As seen from Chapline Street, the skywalk connecting the former hospital and parking garage will be removed, and the city's demolition project will address that issue.
"Part of this contract is removing the walkway between the parking structure and OVMC," Herron said of the city's project. "The reason for that is because we'll probably be ahead of the demolition of the west tower."
Early concepts of the parking garage site redevelopment call for retail space to be created in the area where the fire headquarters is presently located. The concepts of a green space, small plaza and commercial front would complement the array of local restaurants and boutique shops situated in and around Centre Market.
"It fits in nicely on this site, but this is down the road and subject to more discussion," Herron said of the future plans.